With a national decline in newspaper advertising, small businesses can get some smoking deals on local print advertising space.
But many aren? interested.
The decline in newspaper circulation has pushed many small businesses to look for other ways of advertising to attract new customers.
?ore of our customers are looking online as the actual numbers have decreased from newspaper subscriptions,?said Susan Johnson, founder of Irvine-based Susan? Healthy Gourmet.
Most businesses seem to have turned to some sort of Internet marketing to replace the print ads they once relied on, while others are increasing their use of direct marketing and coupons designed to entice customers back to their stores.
In most cases, businesses quietly have started to experiment with social media marketing, which is seen as a cheaper advertising alternative to newspaper ads.
?e?e basically shifted from traditional marketing that worked for us for a long time?ut now is not working as well?o a more updated, relevant (form of) marketing,?said Kerry Johnson-Anthony, president at Susan? Healthy Gourmet. ?e saw that we weren? getting the return on investment that we used to see from our traditional marketing campaigns.?
Local Internet business guide OrangeCounty.net of Dana Point is becoming more appealing to small businesses.
?e have noticed an increase in interested advertisers,?said Christina Duane, cofounder of the Web site. ?ost are coming to us because they are just cutting their budgets overall and trying to be creative in how they advertise with more focus on the Internet, where they see their customers going to now.?
The Web site has operated for about 10 years offering businesses with limited Internet experience a way to get some exposure on the Web.
It has paid off for some local companies.
Santa Ana-based Assunta Fox Art Inc., a fine art reproduction company, has seen a 100% increase in prospects since it began advertising on the site.
Niche Advertising
Other niche businesses are choosing advertising strategies, including those that involve the Web, that are even more tailored to their target audiences.
Huntington Beach-based Classic Industries Inc., a distribution and seller of original and reproduction General Motors Corp. parts, advertises mostly with automotive enthusiasts?magazines and with car-buff TV shows including ?y Classic Car with Dennis Gage?on cable? Speed channel.
?ost of the shows we are involved in now carry an online presence and a customer following,?said Bret Dethlefsen, creative director at Classic Industries. ?ome of our best online referrals have come from these sorts of advertising efforts.?
The company has beefed up its Internet marketing in response with banner ads, e-mail campaigns and by making their company more easily discovered with search engines.
?ur studies have shown more and more consumers are going to the Internet to buy, sell and search for products,?Dethlefsen said.
Classic Industries also redesigned its Web site in February to better work for its consumers.
Specialized service providers such as Classic Industries also are targeting industry Web sites and using online listing services.
Irvine-based A. Fox Property and Mold Assessment, a home and office mold inspection company, has seen positive response to its marketing on Craiglist.com and through real estate associations?Web sites.
?f I were to stop advertising in this market, it would end me in a heartbeat,?said Thomas Volpe, owner of A. Fox Property.
The inspection company also has continued its other tactics of distributing flyers to local Realtors and management companies to drum up business.
? lot of jobs come from word-of-mouth still, but the jobs are fewer and far between, so you have to keep yourself out there,?Volpe said.
Susan? Healthy Gourmet has been keeping a higher profile, as well, to keep itself at the top of its customers?minds.
?ur company is pretty much advertising-driven. Our customers generally stay with us an average of to three- to six-months, so we need to constantly be out there,?said Johnson of Susan? Healthy.
The company makes healthy refrigerated and frozen soups, sandwiches, salads and entrees sold through weekly and monthly meal plans where customers can pick and choose meals and have them delivered to their doors every week.
Susan? Healthy stepped up its Internet marketing this year to reach its customers and cut back on its print and radio work, where it has seen lower returns on investment.
Discounts
It also changed up its messaging to include discounts and free delivery on certain amounts of food.
Many local restaurants are doing the same?hey?e turning to discounting and coupons to attract customers who have become more wary about spending money.
Laguna Niguel-based N.Y.? Upper Crust Pizza Co. recently began direct marketing campaigns with Garden Grove-based Money Mailer LLC and Welcome Wagon, part of Westlake Village-based Move Inc.
?oupons in the Money Mailer are relatively new for us,?said Maryanne Focarino, co-owner at N.Y.? Upper Crust. ?e?e seen a spike in coupon redemption in the past year, especially from those mailers.?
The restaurant chain, known for its New York-style pizza and sandwiches, has six restaurants in Orange County including in Irvine, Lake Forest and Marina Hills.
In the past, the restaurant marketed through magnets, pens and pizza cutters along with more traditional cable TV spots.
?e just added a frequent buyer card for our specials and whole pizzas to promote value and loyalty,?said John Focarino, co-owner at N.Y.? Upper Crust.
Social Networking
Businesses also are beginning to use social networking tools more heavily to connect with customers.
Newport Beach-based Lyndon Group, an accounting and finance services firm, ramped up its use of professional networking site LinkedIn.com, part of Mountain View-based LinkedIn Corp., according to Kenneth Jones, executive managing director at Lyndon.
?e have gotten great response out of it and now use it every day in our marketing efforts,?Jones said.
N.Y.? Upper Crust has also begun dabbling in social marketing with Yelp.com, an online customer review site that is part of San Francisco-based Yelp Inc., to attract additional online attention.
? can? confirm that anyone comes to us from Yelp, but we know the customers are using it because we?e already had 29 (reviews) just on the Irvine store,?John Focarino said.
Both Classic Industries and Susan? Healthy have begun exploring the replacement of their TV ads with online videos designed to entertain and educate viewers on Youtube.com and on the companies?Web sites.
?ore and more consumers are going to the Internet to be entertained and look for information,?Dethlefsen said. ?t Classic, we?e talking in-depth guides on purchasing a project vehicle and decoding VIN numbers.?
Susan? Healthy has been actively researching its options with social media networking including Facebook.com, Twitter.com and blogs.
? blog doesn? cost us anything,?Johnson said, ?ut we?e trying to be smart about what we do instead of jumping on every bandwagon.? & enews;_Column=0
